Jokowi roots for private investment as Freeport dispute lingers

JAKARTA (Oct 17): Indonesia will turn to private investors for the hundreds of billions of dollars in investment needed to develop the archipelago’s infrastructure and natural resources, President Joko Widodo said, brushing off claims he was increasingly becoming an economic nationalist.

All major projects will be offered to the private sector, Widodo, also known as Jokowi, told Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin on Saturday in an interview on a hilltop overlooking the picturesque Lake Toba. Government companies would partner with private investors only if there wasn’t enough interest among such players, with funding from the national budget the last resort, he said.

Halfway through his term in office, Jokowi is seeking to balance the need for more foreign investment with pressures at home to keep the economy, especially its mineral resources, in local hands. A dispute between the government and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. over the transfer of majority ownership of the US miner’s Indonesian unit demonstrates that challenge, while also stoking concern that investors may turn their back on the country.

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